Personal Digital Assistants
The market for handheld computing devices (also called Personal Digital Assistants, or PDAs) has evolved from the ill-fated Newton MessagePad™ to other very successful handheld device platforms. Further evidence of continued success is seen in that independent market research firms expect the sales of handheld devices to continue to double each year between the years 1999 and 2003. Many PDAs have ports that adhere to a Compact-Flash™ standard.
The Compact-Flash™ standard utilizes a fifty pin format and a passive sleeve connection to provide an ability to connect devices and memory through a relatively small connection. Furthermore, the Compact-Flash standard also supports its predecessor, the PC card format. The success of the Compact-Flash standard is evidenced by the fact that there are numerous digital cameras, handheld PC's, as well as other electronic platforms that utilize Compact-Flash enabled ports (memory storage devices, modems, Ethernet cards, integrate with the Compact-Flash standard).
Wireless Connections
Wireless data availability has grown in concert with the handheld device market. Current trends in wireless data availability include the integration of voice and data capabilities into a single handheld device platform, such as “smart phones.” Though powerful, a single voice and data handheld device often provides more functionality than is needed by a user, and are often quite expensive.
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is deployed among several carriers through various technologies in North America, and almost all of the major phone vendors have implemented WAP browser technology on some of their handsets. In addition, many international carriers are implementing WAP as well. This is because the WAP browser (also known as a micro-browser) is very efficient and, thus, may be provided with low cost rate plans (lower than typical packet data rate plans offered for regular Internet access).
A device that uses WAP as a platform provides an array of features that enhance a user's experience. Features like “push” capabilities, alerting, security, data compression, message transmission status information, and graphics support, are some of the features provided in the WAP architecture. For a developer, the WAP development environment addresses many of the hardware dependent factors such as screen size, graphic's display, cache management, and data input which enable the developer to focus on application design and development. Furthermore, WAP platforms provide features which are not inherent to current Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD) networks, such as “store and forward” capabilities.
Accordingly, devices have been designed to bring WAP and voice capabilities to portable computers, such as PDAs. Some devices, such as those disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/552,321, entitled “CELLULAR DIGITAL PACKET DATA (CDPD) PUSH TECHNOLOGY MODULE”, by Weinzierl, et. al, and which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety, address the need for a single platform capable of integrating a wireless network with a PDA device that has a Compact-Flash interface. Other devices addressed in the aforementioned U.S. Patent Application address the need for a Compact-Flash enabled device that provides the ability to place data on and retrieve data from a wireless network in a Compact-Flash size data entry module.
However, no one has addressed providing data entry and retrieval functionality to these and similar devices separate and apart from laptop computers, PDAs, and other “intelligent” portable computing platforms. Accordingly, there exist the need for data and voice entry devices, as well as data and voice retrieval devices that enable a CompactFlash core module to provide independent voice and data use in a wireless network. The invention enables the user to carry small attachments that can turn a CompactFlash core module into a wireless phone or a two-way data access device.